Abandoned Baby Ad Creep Update: Welcome Mats

Jeez Louise, you can’t go anywhere these days without running into ambient abandoned baby advertising. Supermarkets in South Africa. Town squares in Finland. And now, the ads have crept right up to your doorstep. These baby basket prints were placed on welcome mats of Israelis by Tel Aviv ad agency BBR Saatchi & Saatchi for Hibuk Rishon (First Hug), a non-profit that helps abandoned babies. Pretty damn intrusive. If you turned the print over before ripping/crumbling it up, the message read:

“Every year, hundreds of babies are abandoned in Israel. You can help them.” Under the message was Hibuk’s url. Via the press note:

“People…donâ€™t feel a connection to the abandoned babies because itâ€™s something thatâ€™s beyond them â€“ not part of their everyday concerns. People feel more of a connection to things that are tangible. Abandoned babies are not just a statistic in some report. They are real and defenseless and in need of peopleâ€™s help.”

Desperate causes call for desperate measures, I guess. At least they weren’t ads for a sperm bank. Or a burning bag of dog shit. |Images via: Coloribus|